


Strange Magic

by speedyvibraniumdevil



Series: Stephen Strange [1]
Category: Doctor Strange - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cussing, F/M, Flirting, Fun, Mentions of sex but no actual sex, Sexual Tension, a lot of magic and mystery, amazing banter, mildly slow burn, one arrogant wizard and a sarcastic flirty witch, perhaps that could change i have no idea, some fight scenes which include blood and violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:22:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23723785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speedyvibraniumdevil/pseuds/speedyvibraniumdevil
Summary: You’re a powerful, off the grid witch who is relatively new to Manhattan, New York. You’re good at keeping yourself hidden, but your influx of magic attracts none other than the protector of the mystic himself, Dr. Strange. What happens when he finds you and invites you to his sanctum, and you finally meet? (Based off of that scene in Thor: Ragnarok)
Relationships: Doctor Strange/Reader, Doctor Strange/Witch!Reader, Stephen Strange/Reader, Stephen Strange/Witch!Reader
Series: Stephen Strange [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1708759
Comments: 9
Kudos: 123





	1. Red Wine

**Author's Note:**

> I never thought I’d ever write for Dr. Strange, but here I am. It’s amazing what completely random inspiration can do. I’ve never written for him before, so be nice lmao. I hope you guys like it and this pairing. Also, part 2 is underway!

You pulled apart the curtains shrouding the tall window adjacent to your bed. Bright morning light immediately spilled into the bedroom, making you squint and groan in response. When your eyes adjusted, you pulled open the sliding door, letting the cool air in and giving yourself access to the small balcony outside.

With bare feet and your silk robe pulled right against the breeze, you stepped out onto the Spanish tile, closed your eyes, and breathed in the air. It was New York City, so the air wasn’t clean by any means, but that’s why you focused your energy, and used your magic as a filter to give you only the best. 

You could feel every tree on the island, from the streets to the rooftops, all the way to Central Park and it’s surrounding patches of greenery. With a big inhale you took it all in, and with an exhale you let it go. 

It was the best way to kickstart your day.

For a witch who enjoyed nature, you would think Manhattan would be the last place that you’d move to, but there was something about the city that drew you to it. Not only was it dancing with life, but it was also teeming with magic of all kinds. It was a juxtaposition with all the steel buildings, but it was true, New York City was a hub for magical beings. Not to mention, you gut told you this was where you needed to be.

Whatever it was, you were still looking for it.

When you went back inside, you looked at yourself in one of the many mirrors placed around your apartment, and examined your face. Just as you had hoped, there were no more scars or bruises from last night’s encounter. Good.

The last thing you needed was a facial scar from some regular grade demon. You had fought plenty of those before and this one certainly wouldn’t be the last. Surely to no one’s surprise, they littered the streets and the secret underground societies of The Big Apple.

_No wonder those stupid heroes in tights can’t get the crime rate down. None of them know magic. Not real magic or how to deal with the more sinister side of the world. All they can fight are aliens._

As far as you knew, at least. Maybe you were just bitter.

You felt a furry warm body brush against your legs, and you looked down with a smile at your black cat, Bagheera, who was rubbing his body affectionately against you. You bent down and stroked his back and patted his head.

“Good morning, little beast.”

You meandered out of the room, with your little friend in tow, through the hallway covered in mirrors and framed artworks, past the living room with a wall covered in shelves of books, crystals, and artifacts. 

With a thought in your mind, you gently placed your hand over the multi-pronged golden star necklace, with a round opal in the center, around your neck. As soon as your skin made contact, it glowed, and objects from the kitchen started moving to the counter as you approached.

It was simple things. A mug, a spoon, espresso, sugar, milk, even the espresso machine turned on. They were things that required little energy and magic, and they floated through the air held by your mind and little tufts of purple smoke.

You started going about making yourself a cup, when you felt a sensation at the back of your neck, and froze instantly. It wasn’t necessarily a feeling of magic being used on you, but it was the same instinct you get when you were in the presence of magic, magic that wasn’t yours. In other words, there was someone in your apartment.

But how? You put a protection spell over this entire apartment and made sure it was air tight. You were supposed to be invisible to anyone and anything.

Still, you felt it.

With a clench of your fist, the glass of a nearby mirror cracked. It was followed by the sound of Bagheera hissing. You whirled around to see what he saw, and to your horror, he was looking up. Up at the ceiling above your bookshelves.

There was nothing there, but you knew enough about the supernatural that just because something wasn’t visible, it didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

With a snarl and a motion like you were throwing knives, you whipped your hand in the direction you were both looking at, detaching the pieces of glass from it’s frame, and with an open palm you released them like daggers in purple smoke. Each one sinking with an individual thud into the wall of your living room.

You broke the glass of another mirror, except this time they floated around you, ready to be thrown as you strode over to the other side of the apartment where you flung your weapons. 

To your dismay, there was nothing there. No blood, no other destruction or evidence, nothing. But, you could still feel it, that presence, and Bagheera was now on the kitchen counter, still hissing.

“Who’s there?” you shouted. “Show yourself!”

You scanned every area of that ceiling, but could still see nothing. It couldn’t have been a spirit, in order to penetrate your spell, let alone find you, it had to be powerful. 

Even if it was, you were always up for a challenge.

There was a sudden whooshing sound, mixed with something that sounded like crackling. Yellow light came from below, and when you looked down you jumped backwards to save yourself from whatever it was.

It looked like a portal, a small circle made of sparks, and just before you could see through it or throw in a shard of glass, it was gone. The only thing left in its place, was a small piece of paper with an address on it.

“What the hell?” you whispered.

You noticed that the presence was gone, the feeling at the back of your neck had disappeared and Bagheera had calmed down once again. However, you were still wary, still guarded, so you kept the glass where it was as you reached down and picked up the small piece of parchment.

177A Bleeker St.

You let it fall out of your hands and float in midair so you could perform a quick spell on it to check for foul play, but it was just a normal piece of parchment. Written on it neatly with a fountain pen from what you could tell.

_How pretentious._

Having calmed down, you put the shards back, even the ones on the wall, into their corresponding frames. When you were done they were back to being mirrors, just like they were before, as good as new. 

With the paper in between your fingers, you lifted it up and looked at Bagheera.

“Looks like we’ve been invited to a private party.”

***

Knowing that you were going to be in the presence of another being with supernatural powers, you wanted to look your best. The last thing you wanted to do was ruin your reputation for being the best dressed witch out there. Not that that was your reputation, but you really couldn’t bear it if you showed up to this strange meeting looking casual.

So, you conjured up the most beautiful emerald green velvet dress with long sleeves, a low v, and a slit on the side. Your accessories were rings on almost every finger, each one serving a special purpose, some starry earrings to match your necklace, and a long black coat.

Magically hidden up your sleeves were some thin daggers you liked to carry as a precaution. If this being wanted to kill you already, they would have instead of giving you their address, but you could never be too careful. You particularly liked to be prepared.

When you were ready, you stood in front of the full length mirror that was placed beside your apartment doorway. Instead of using the glass as a weapon this time, you were going to use it as a teleportation system.

With the address in one hand, and the palm of your other hand on the mirror, you spoke a one worded incantation.

With your voice barely above a whisper, you spoke, “Ostium,” and right before your eyes, the mirror changed from your reflection to a portal looking onto an empty sidewalk and a set of blue double doors.

Making sure to shroud yourself so the human eye can’t see you, you stepped through the frame, and came out the other side with no problem.

Suddenly you were away from your quiet, safe and warm abode, and now you were in the cooler, louder streets of Manhattan. With a look around, you uncloaked yourself, brushed yourself off, and stepped up to the doors with a clicking of your heels.

You took a deep breath before knocking on the wooden surface. However, before your knuckles could knock twice, you were instantly teleported inside. The suddenness surprised you, but it wasn’t enough to throw you off at all.

In fact, the more magic was used, the more you were going to learn about this individual.

The inside of the building was dark and dim, but very spacious from what you could tell. The biggest source of light was a giant circular window to your right, with a strange symbol over it. What was more surprising than the strange symbol, was the silhouette of a cloaked man, floating in front of it.

“Y/N Y/L/N,” a particularly deep voice came from the faceless figure.

“How dramatic,” you commented. 

He quickly flew closer and closer to you, revealing himself as he did so. He was a rather tall and slender man with dark hair and beard that had visible streaks of white hair. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit, adorned by a gold necklace in the shape of an eye, and even had a red cape that floated around him.

If there was anyone that was the epitome of a sorcerer, it was him. If sorcerers were surprisingly attractive.

As he closed the distance between you, you had to take a step back in case he tried anything. Your hands and sharp tongue were ready to call upon any magic.

“Careful there, I wouldn’t want to ruin your pretty window. Or that face.”

“I didn’t call you here to fight you, if that’s what you think. You can put the guard down.”

“Then why _did_ you call me here?”

“I just want to talk. I have a few questions.”

You regarded him for a minute with narrowed eyes and tried to see if your instinct told you anything, but you felt nothing negative. In fact, you were feeling much safer here than you thought you would before entering.

Finally you said, “Fine,” and started walking past him, all while peeling off your coat, until you were suddenly teleported to another part of the building. This time you were in a room with glass cases full of artifacts, like in a museum, and tapestries on a wall. You noticed that your coat was even gone.

You had teleported plenty of times before, but on your terms. This was not okay.

You pointed a finger at him and asked, “Are you gonna be doing this all day?”

He shrugged, “Perhaps. I find it easier to get around. Don’t you?”

“Well, not all of us can have a grandiose mansion, Mr…??”

“Strange. Dr. Stephen Strange. And it’s not a mansion, it’s a sanctum.”

You smiled with amusement at the name. “Did you pick that out yourself?”

“No, actually. I’m afraid it comes from my parents.”

“Did you get the ‘Dr.’ part from them too?”

“No, I got that from med school.”

You were genuinely, and pleasantly surprised by that.

“Wow. An actual doctor. What’s an actual doctor doing practicing magic?”

“Let’s just say I had a bad accident and leave it at that.”

“Well, based on your name, it looks like you were born for the strange anyway…doctor.”

He made a breathy noise that sounded like a repressed laugh.

You motioned to his ostentatious attire. “By the way, your outfit is spectacular. I never met a sorcerer who took the word so seriously. If I knew you’d be wearing a cape, I would’ve dressed like a Disney villain.”

With a snap of your fingers, a long black cape appeared, and draped itself over your shoulders, and cascaded all the way to the floor. He continued to stand there with his arms crossed, totally unfazed and stoic, which pissed you off.

“The preferred term is ‘Master of the Mystic Arts’ and it’s not just a regular cape.”

You rolled your eyes, and the cape vanished. 

“Okay, Dr. Strange, ‘Master of the Mystic Arts’. Who the hell are you and why should I care? Oh, also, why were you in my apartment this morning?”

“Like I said, I’m Dr. Strange. I’m in charge of protecting this part of the world, and I have some questions for you.”

 _Oh, so he wasn’t just some regular sorcerer. He was something much higher up. That’s_ not something you were expecting.

“You couldn’t have knocked on my door like a normal person? You had to snoop around however the hell you did?”

“It was astral projection, and you’re a hard woman to track down, Ms. Y/L/N.”

You crossed your arms now. “You ever think there’s a reason for that?”

“That’s why you’re here,” he smiled sardonically, and you frowned.

“Ask away then. But for the record I have things to do, so make it quick.”

“Fine. Take a seat,” he said, and within a fraction of a second, he teleported you into a chair, in another room. It was a sitting room, with a globe, and shelves filled with old books.

“If you keep doing that, I’m gonna tear your cape to shreds.”

He completely ignored your comment. “Do you want some tea, Y/L/N?”

A small clay cup filled with tea appeared in your right hand. You stared down at it, unamused.

“No, thank you.”

“What do you drink?”

“Right now, in this dress, in this place, sitting across from you, I’d like a glass of wine.”

Suddenly the cup was replaced with a glass full of dark red wine. That made you raise your eyebrows in amusement. It was nothing particularly special, but how effortlessly he did it was. You could hardly tell he was trying to use magic at all. 

_Who trained him?_

“I hope red is fine,” he said.

“Red is perfect.” You ran the tip of your finger around the rim of the glass, checking to see if it was poisoned, which it wasn’t. Maybe he really was just so damn hospitable. Other than the fact that he kept moving you around.

Knowing what you were doing, Strange muttered, “It’s not poisoned, Y/L/N.”

Right before taking a sip you said, “Precautions, Strange.”

After a long time of not getting to the point, he finally started telling you what you were here for.

“So, as the protector of this part of the world, I like to keep track of all of the magical beings in this realm, New York in particular, and I couldn’t help but notice that there has been an influx of magic these past few months from an unknown being that I had a hard time tracking. As someone who keeps a watchlist of individuals and beings from this realm and other realms that may be a threat to this world, I was starting to get worried that there was a new one I knew nothing about.”

You crossed your legs and took another sip from your wine. Playing dumb, you smiled and asked, “And did you find this being?”

“As a matter of fact I did, Y/L/N. This morning.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

You tried not to laugh. “You think I’m a danger to the world?” 

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

“Well I don’t go around killing innocent people if that’s what you’re getting at,” you quirked an eyebrow.

He stared at you for a moment before going, “Of course not. If you did, I would’ve found you sooner and possibly killed you.”

A hum escaped your throat. “Good to know.”

“It’s more of a question of if you ever have the urge to become overpowered and take over the world.”

You burst out laughing, thinking that he was joking, but the look on his very serious face told you otherwise. He was truly wondering if you ever thought of becoming a cliche villain. 

“Strange, please, I have better things to do with my life than developing a god complex and thinking I have what it takes to rule a universe. No, thank you.”

“That’s good to hear.”

You downed the rest of the red liquid, and the cup instantly refilled. You stared at it and instantly knew what he was trying to do. Was he hoping to get you drunk so you could answer more of his questions? It was funny and clever. He must have known he didn’t need that or that it wouldn’t work completely, did he?

Rather than keeping your suspicions a secret, you flirtatiously called him out.

“That’s a neat trick. Are you trying to get me drunk, doctor?”

“No, I’m just trying to be a good host. You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to.”

He was good at keeping his cool, but you could tell your demeanor affected him when he readjusted himself in his chair. He was so orderly and straight to the point, that there was something so amusing about breaking that. No magic needed.

You took another sip from your newly poured wine. 

“So what do you do with your magic and time, Y/L/N?”

You shrugged, “I help myself, help people, break curses, fight demons. The usual. And if it seems like I use a lot of magic, it’s only because I do. If I can, why shouldn’t I?”

“Well, as long as you use it well within the limits and don’t tip the balance of the world, then you should be fine. Personal gain can only get you so far. There comes a point where magic comes at a price and it can get expensive.”

“Right,” you elongated the vowel.

The way he said that irked you, it was like a knife poking at your back and you didn’t like it. He didn’t know why you started using magic in the first place and he didn’t need to know. He didn’t need to know why you were off the grid and worked so hard to be that way. If it meant you used too much magic then so be it. You didn’t need some idiot with a cape to tell you otherwise.

Needing some kind of escape, you pointed to the array of books.

“May I?”

With a wave of his hand he said, “Be my guest.”

You stood up, wine glass in hand and started looking through the books on the shelves. Strange followed closely behind, but still kept his distance, which you oddly appreciated.

You cast a glance in his direction, noticing the quiet broody demeanor. Still, he averted his gaze when you locked eyes. You couldn’t help but snort.

“What?” he queried.

“You scholarly types are so fucking rigid.”

“Rigid? How exactly?”

“Yeah, so broody, so logical, so good at hoarding all of your emotions. When’s the last time you had someone over? Had sex? Or are those things forbidden in the sacred sanctum?”

He groaned, “Are you seriously asking me that?”

“Yeah, I am.”

He closed his eyes this time, to steel himself. 

“You really think I have the time or excuse to distract myself with something stupid like that?”

“Human connection is stupid to you?”

“No, but it’s hard to worry about human connection when you’re busy trying to save humanity. Did you forget this was all about you?”

“Nope, but I think you owe me for astral projecting into my house.”

He sighed. “Okay. You say ‘scholarly types’ as if you didn’t have a whole section of your house dedicated to books.”

“Hey, I never said I didn’t like to learn. Or that I hated scholarly types,” you shot him a smirk and turned away.

You returned your gaze to the line of books and stopped when your eyes landed on a book of magic you had never seen before. Considering you had pore over almost every single supernatural piece of literature you could get your hands on, this was a surprise. Your heart even beat with excitement.

You pulled it out, but just as you did, Dr. Strange appeared right next to you.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking at this book. What does it look like I’m doing?”

“You’re not allowed to look at those. They’re for my eyes and expertise only.”

You crossed your arms and fixed him with a vexed expression. He was closer to you now than ever before.

“Not into sharing your trade secrets?”

“Not particularly.”

“Afraid I’ll see something I shouldn’t and undermine you?” you smirked.

“I highly doubt that would be possible.”

_Was that a challenge?_

You ran your tongue across your teeth as a way to keep your cool. You knew better than to get mixed up with an all powerful being you barely knew anything about. Even if you were powerful yourself. You only played dumb when it convenience or even amused you.

It was then when you were at such close proximity to him, that you got an idea. Without letting him see, you toyed with the ring on your right hand, the silver octagon with a rose quartz button in the center. You pressed it, initiating a spell that upped the pheromones in the scent of your skin.

You knew it worked when he had to blink a few times.

Feigning surrender, you said, “Fine.” 

You circled around him, like a cat, so that he was facing away from that particular book shelf, and he followed around so easily like a dog to a bone. When he was positioned correctly, you took another sip from your glass as a distraction, and curled the fingers of your other hand, making the book come out of its place on the shelf until it was floating in midair.

Strange, who looked a little looser now asked, “And what about you? What does a witch like yourself do if she’s not just reading her books and playing with her cat?”

The book got closer and closer, until you casually put a strand of hair behind your ear, which made the book shrink down to the size of a keychain.

You shrugged coyly, and inched closer to his face with each word. “If I’m honest, I don’t have very many people over either. But I wish I did.”

The now tiny book got closer until you turned back around once again, put your hand behind your back, and caught it in your hands. With magic, you made it disappear out of sight. 

Once your lips were inches from his and he was faltering with every breath, and what you wanted was in your grasp, you turned away from him, like it was nothing.

“Anyways,” you put the glass of wine down on one of the small tables, “If we’re done with this interrogation, I really do have to go. I have an appointment with a mutant who values punctuality.”

Not a total lie. You had to get your information from somewhere.

When you looked at him again, he was shaking his head. No doubt he felt foggy. It made you wonder if that spell was a little too potent, although you had to make it so considering you didn’t know what you were dealing with beforehand.

“Strange? Need a little caffeine?”

He blinked twice and even rubbed his eyes. Luckily his judgement was faulty enough to mess with his logic and keep him from putting two and two together.

“Yeah? Sorry. Yes, we’re done here, but if I need any more questions answered…”

You conjured up your coat, and swiftly put your arms through the sleeves.

“You know where to find me. But this time, knock, alright?”

Without another word, you exited the room, but not without him following closely behind. This time, before teleporting you, he let you know.

“Here, let me take you to the front entrance.”

With the blink of an eye, you were both transported to the foyer at the bottom of a large set of stairs leading to the blue double doors.

With the pheromone spell still doing it’s work, the doctor was a little more eager to help and please you. If you didn’t know any better you could say you could get used to this.

“Do you want me to get a portal for you so you can get back home quickly?” he asked.

With a smirk, you put a hand on the doorknob and said, “It’s okay, I’ll walk. I like the fresh air. Remember, if you need me, text, call, leave another ominous piece of parchment. Maybe take a lady on a proper date.”

He playfully rolled his eyes. He may have tried to be a professional Master of the Mystic arts, but you could see through that. Pheromones or not.

“Goodbye, Y/L/N.”

You grinned at him, “I’m only kidding,” before shrouding yourself from the naked eye with an invisibility spell and stepping out onto the sidewalk, with the small book stowed away in your pocket.


	2. The Evening Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Strange tracks you down to give him back his book and just when you think you'll never see him again, he pays you a surprise visit to your home.

You sat on a bench at the edge of Central Park, breathing in the air from the canopied trees above you, and drinking a cup of coffee which you specially charmed to give you energy. The cold air had subsided for the first time in a while, giving away to a warm day that wasn’t overbearingly hot, yet.

You had a bag with you, filled with new candles, crystals, and herbs. Although your power didn’t rely on such things, you were taught from a young age how to stay true to your roots and use them to your advantage. You used them to cast spells from home or to enhance your living space. It was a well known natural order to borrow magic from other living things. In good cases it was things from nature, but in dark cases it was the lives of others. 

You’d never take part in the latter, but you knew of people who did.

No, you relied on your own natural born magic, your special set of skills, and the elements of the earth. It was the reason you loved being around greenery as much as you could, like this. You were thankful that this city has a giant park in the middle of it’s plethora of buildings. It was the perfect representation for your personality.

A man sitting on a bench across the way was boring his eyes into you in a way a feral animal would look at a prey. You knew better than to make eye contact since men take one modicum of attention as an invitation, but still it made you angry and uncomfortable. When he got up, you knew he was coming for you, so before he could utter a word, with a flutter of your fingers you cast a spell on him that made him get on all fours and start oinking like a pig.

With a giggle to yourself, you dashed from the bench and made your way deeper into the park. Maybe it was a bit much, but…what was too much when it came to men? Besides, it was New York, no one would blink twice. Not at him and not at you.

You got that feeling in the back of your neck again, your magical senses. You perked up, and scanned the faces of everybody around you, but no one looked particularly suspicious or familiar. Which could only mean…

The cell phone in your pocket started ringing, and without taking your eyes off of what was in front of you, you took it out. It wasn’t until you looked down at the caller ID, that your guard came down, and you had to contain a burst of laughter.

Dr. Stephen Strange.

_Of course._

You answered the phone and pressed it to your ear.

His deep voice came from the other end, “That was a bit mean, what you did to that guy. Don’t you think?”

You chuckled, “As far as you know, he probably deserved it. Doctor, I don’t remember ever saving your number to my phone.”

“You said you wanted me to call, so I called.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Master of the Mystic Arts?”

“I think you know what I’m looking for, Y/L/N.”

You smirked slyly to yourself, and to him if he was around. “It must’ve slipped my mind. Remind me again?”

“My book, Y/L/N, the one you so cleverly took without my noticing. The one that’s above your skill level and wasn’t supposed to leave the sanctum.”

You sneered at that, “How arrogant of you to assume you know what my skill level is. You’re just mad that I seduced you.”

“It was a pheromone spell, Y/L/N, hardly fair in calling it real seduction.”

“Strange, we’re talking about magic here. Nothing’s truly fair, is it? But if you prefer, next time I seduce you, I’ll make sure to use my - what do they call it?- ‘Feminine wiles’?” you chuckled in amusement as you imagined him rolling his eyes.

“Y/L/N, please. Can we stop the flirtations and get to the fact that I’m gonna need you to give back what you stole.”

“Sorry, I’m not quite done with it yet, and even if I was, I don’t have it with me, so you’re just gonna have to wait…darling.”

Without another word, you hung up the phone and shoved it back in your pocket.

You knew better than to think he was never going to come looking for you after you left the sanctum with a prize, you just hoped he would’ve been nicer about it and let you borrow it for a few more days. Or forever. The good thing was that you were a fast reader and an even faster learner, so you picked up a few tricks, and even wrote as many as you could in your own grimoire. 

You’d give back the book eventually, anyway.

You casually threw away your now empty cup, and continued further into the park, thinking you had rid yourself of Strange for a little while longer. However, that feeling only got stronger. And suddenly, a hissing sound surprised you as a circle of sparks appeared around you at your feet, making you stop.

Knowing full well that this was the work of Strange, you groaned in frustration. 

“For fuck’s sake-” you let out a gasp as the portal opened and you dropped right through. The motion made your stomach flutter as if you were on a rollercoaster.

Gone were you from the outdoors of Central Park, now you were flying into the familiar wooden interior of the New York sanctum foyer, from the ceiling no less. Seeing as the ground was far below, and you didn’t want to have a crash landing, you used your newly learned piece of magic to stop yourself in midair.

“You learned a new trick, I see,” Strange commented from down below, where he was casually standing by the stairs.

You shot him a glare, and slowly lowered yourself down to the ground.

“Strange, you asshole.” 

You aimed and threw a ball of purple mist his way, but his cape tugged him out of the way, so it only hit the wall. However, it did leave behind a circular scorch mark on the wood.

“It’s nice to see you again too,” he uttered nonchalantly.

You walked up to him and crossed your arms sternly.

“I told you, I don’t have your precious book with me. You couldn’t wait for me to get home?”

It was a lie. You had the book on you at all times seeing as you couldn’t trust him not to sneakily steal it back from your apartment. He didn’t know that. Or maybe he did.

“You see, the thing is, Y/L/N, I’ve had enough time with you to know not to trust everything you say. You kind of revealed that when you, you know, used a spell and stole from me.”

“Why do you even want it so bad? You’re clearly already a Master of the Mystic Arts and it’s a spellbook for witches too. Don’t be so stingy, Strange.”

“I keep it for knowledge and to protect it from random witches with grabby hands and hidden intentions.”

“Oh, so I’m a random witch now? I thought we had something,” you teased.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly like basing my relationships on secrets and lies,” his blue eyes bore into yours, and it jolted something in you that you couldn’t quite place. You pushed it away for now.

With a roll of your eyes, you decided to give in. Not because you were weak or because he made any fair points, but because the last thing you needed was to get tangled up with some higher up who tried telling you what not to do. He was stubborn and clever and this wasn’t worth the fight.

“If I give it back, will you leave me alone?”

“Of course.”

“You promise?”

“Yes,” he sighed.

With that you deftly reached into the inside pocket of your jacket, and pulled out the small miniaturized spell book in the palm of your hand. 

Strange looked down at it and deadpanned, “Honey, I think you shrunk the book.”

You snorted a genuine laugh and looked at him, impressed, “He jokes.”

He looked rather pleased with himself that he made you laugh. With a simple spell, the book grew back to its original size, and you handed it back to him.

“There. Now can I go back to living my life free of your unwanted badgering?”

“By all means, you’re free to go.”

With a motion of his hands, he opened up another portal. This time, you could see that it led to the outside of your apartment building. He gestured in a very gentlemanly manner to the circle.

“Unless you have something else to return.”

You stepped up to the portal and turned around to face him. “I’ll let you know if I remember anything,” and took a step backwards with a smirk, to the other side.

As far as you knew, that was the last time you thought you’d see Stephen Strange in a long time. Although there was a sense of calm and normalcy back in your life, your mind did begin to wonder if you made the right decision to never see him again. You felt like you were starting to crack through that exterior of his, but alas. To you, it was better this way.

That was, until about a week later, late one evening, there came a knock at your door.

The protection spell around your apartment meant that you never had any normal visitors, the unit was either empty or nonexistent, so it was obvious that whoever was at your door, was not a normal human being. So, when you approached the door, you were armed with glass and the magic mist from your hands.

It wasn’t until you heard the very clear, “It’s Stephen Strange,” on the other side that you calmed down and put everything away, albeit, perplexed.

When you opened the door, the man was standing there, wearing the same attire that he always wore, including his cape. All while you were in pajamas and a robe.

_Does he ever wear anything else?_

“Strange? What the hell are you doing here? I thought you made a promise to leave me alone.”

“I know, I know I did.”

“You didn’t miss me did you?”

“Ha. Actually, I really needed to talk to you, but I thought you’d appreciate doing it in the sanctity of your home for a change.”

“How thoughtful of you,” It came out sounding sarcastic but you truly did think it was thoughtful all things considered. “And what exactly did you want to talk to me about?”

“You, and how I can help you.”

You were taken aback, truly not expecting that answer. “Help me? Help me with what?”

“The reason you came to New York in the first place.”

He didn’t need to say any more details for you to know exactly what he was talking about. He was talking about your past, why you’d been off the grid, and why you’ve been trying to learn as much magic as you could. You tried so hard to run from all of that and to make sure nobody knew, so the fact that he did, made your heart sink to the floor.

Your eyes grew wide into disks, “How..?”

“I’ll explain everything, just…let me in, Y/N.”

You stepped aside to let him into the apartment, and the two of you stood at opposite ends of the living room facing each other. You could’ve been hospitable and offered him something to drink, but you were already in a haze as your body vibrated with feelings of the past.

You repeated your question more demandingly, “How did you find out?”

Because if he knew, that meant someone else knew, and then…

“I have my ways, I did some digging, looked into the right channels, talked to the right people. Lucky for you, not a lot of people who’ve come in contact with you know where you came from, but it didn’t sit well with me that I knew nothing about you, and you weren’t going to give me anything, so I did my job and kept looking. 

“That was when I talked to someone that had a theory. A theory about an attack on a family of witches who lived in the woods, and a daughter who went missing.”

Your breath hitched at that, and the flames of the candles that were on your coffee table flickered like crazy. Strange noticed, but said nothing about it.

“In order to see if this theory was true….I looked within. Which, if you don’t know, it’s a thing that I can do. I can see different points in time, go to different dimensions. And as it turns out….that theory was true, because I saw you. I saw everything.”

He looked to you for some kind of response, prolonging his whole speech. You were too overwhelmed to make any comments except urge him to continue on.

“What did you see, Strange?” you asked, wanting him to say it, to prove himself since he came this damn far. 

He was talking so slowly and carefully for the first time since knowing you. You could see the doctor side, the one that had to deliver bad news to the patient’s families.

He went on, carefully, “You’re a third generation witch. Dad wasn’t in the picture but you were raised by your mother and your grandparents. They taught you everything that they could about witchcraft and the mystic arts, and they were powerful….but power usually comes with enemies that want to have it….and one of those enemies was a powerful sorceress who calls herself-”

“Belladonna,” you uttered the name like a curse. The name sprung angry tears to your eyes.

Strange’s eyes softened, but you couldn’t bear to look at him.

He went on, “She wanted your family’s power, didn’t she? All of it, so she…”

“You can stop there, Strange,” you interrupted him. A tear ran down your cheek and you swiped it away in frustration.

You didn’t need him to keep going, to tell you what she did, because you knew, you had lived it. 

Belladonna had become so hungry for power that she went for the family she knew had the most. And when your grandmother didn’t want to teach her her ways, she grew a vendetta. She cursed all of you, killed everyone, but not before your grandmother told you to run, to hide, and to learn. And now she’s after you, because your family’s magic flows through your veins, and she couldn’t have you fleeing with what belonged to her. But you were smart, you covered your tracks as you moved from city to city until you found yourself in New York.

You fixed Strange with a watery glare.

“Congratulations, you finally got what you wanted. You know everything about me. Mystery solved. Are you happy?”

“Of course I’m not happy. Why the hell would I be happy?”

You knew he said he wanted to help, but all of this being brought up by some stranger who popped into your life without invitation, pissed you off. You didn’t need this right now, you didn’t need some man meddling with your life, coming into your home, and telling you your fucked up life story. You didn’t care who he was.

“Then why are you here again? You said you wanted to help? Or did you actually come here to bring up family trauma for fun?”

“Look, I know you’re angry, or maybe even scared-”  
“I’m not scared,” you spat defensively, the flames grew higher. 

He sighed, “I do want to help you, Y/N. I can help you track down Belladonna and you can end this. I can help you end this.”

You shook your head vigorously, “No, no, I’ve worked too hard to make sure she doesn’t find me and when she does it’ll be because I want her to and because I’m ready.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” he argued.

“Who are you to tell me how to live my life?” you asked incredulously, “Why do you even care? I’m fine on my own. I’ve been fine on my own this whole time until you came along with your questions and your rules.”

A few mirrors cracked and he gave you a warning look.

“Y/N…”

“What?” you growled, making more mirrors crack. Bagheera meowed from the other room.

“Don’t do this. I don’t want to fight you.”

You locked eyes with him, and there was no anger in them at all. No malice, no sarcasm, and it only made you feel worse because it would’ve been easier to fight fire with fire. Yet, here he was, being genuinely caring. It only made you cry even more.

You calmed down, the glass reforming as you wiped away another runaway tear.

“If that’s all you came here to say, then please get out. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

“Y/N, please…”

_There he goes, saying my name again._

“Thank you for your consideration, Doctor, but I don’t need you.”

The two of you stood there in silence, with tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Neither of you moved, but you wanted him out. You were angry, but you didn’t want to fight him either.

You looked at the full body mirror by the entrance and with a wave of your hand you said, “Ostium.”

“You’re free to leave.”

It took him a stubborn moment, but with a sad gaze, he turned to go, making his cape whirl, and with one more glance in your direction, he left through the portal.

When you were sure that you no longer felt his presence, you sank down to your knees and heaved a sob. Every flame in the house went out, and all the glass came down like waterfalls, but you didn’t care.

***

For what felt like for real this time, you had no signs of Stephen Strange since that night. You had calmed down significantly over the next few days, but if you were honest, you were still pissed off. You just weren’t sure if it was at him or yourself or both.

But it didn’t matter to you. You had meant what you said about being able to do this alone and when you were ready. Yes, you had flirted with him and it was a grand old time, but you didn’t need him getting familiar. Not with your past and lives on the line. Not when you could disappear at any given moment.

You kept telling yourself that you didn’t need him or anyone like him.

You just wished that you had access to his spell books without having to deal with him.

One night, after getting home from a supernatural excursion, there was yet another rare knock at your door. This time, you had zero doubts about who it could be, and you were nowhere near being in the mood to talk to him again.

_What the fuck is his problem?_

That feeling in the back of your neck came back, and this time in your gut too.

“Strange, go away! I don’t want to talk to you!” you yelled towards the door.

There was another knock, it was more urgent, but there was no voice on the other side.

You groaned, “Strange, if you don’t go away, I won’t hesitate to fight you this time. I don’t care!”

There was silence, and that feeling you had got worse, and it was then that you started to realize, that this was different. This wasn’t a general indication of magic, this felt like a warning.

Less hostile now, you faced the door hesitantly. Through the crack under the door you could see a pair of feet. There was clearly someone there.

“Strange?” you called out, now hoping that it was him.

However, the female chuckle followed by the glow of a symbol burning through your door, confirmed that it wasn’t. It made the bile rise in the back of your throat, fear electrified every cell, and your magic flared in defense.

Belladonna was here. She had found you. 

And she was breaking the protection spell on your home.


	3. Belladonna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Belladonna finds you and you have to do what you can to save your own life.

Your blood turned to ice with a fear you hadn’t felt in years. **  
**

You didn’t know how Belladonna had found you, but she was here. She must have scoured the earth for you, waiting for the smallest crack to your magic to give her some indication to your whereabouts. It was bound to happen, you knew it was inevitable, but like a lot of things in your life, you thought you had a little more time.

You stood a few feet away from the door, watching as the magical symbol burned its way through your door, and the wood started to crack. You didn’t have time to run, the door was about to burst off of its hinges, you could see it, and the protection spell was growing weak.

So, you’d have to fight.

In a matter of seconds, turned off the lights, and set every candle in the apartment aflame. Just as you heard the door break apart with a thundering crack, you turned yourself invisible and placed yourself against the wall separating the living room and the small hallway at the entrance.

Heavy heeled footsteps resounded around the apartment as they came down on the wooden floor ominously.

Your blood was roaring in your ears, and your breathing was already so harsh you had to fight with yourself to keep quiet lest she hear you. You kept your magic at the tips of your fingers, at the ready. Then, when she came around the corner, it took everything in you not to gasp.

With heeled boots on she was a towering woman, but she didn’t need the height to instill fear in people. Although, she was beautiful, you’d give her that. She had long red hair that landed just past her shoulders, amber eyes like liquid gold, and pale, sharp features like out of a vampire movie. But you knew it was all a result of magic, in fact, she looked different every time that you saw her. More animal-like the more darkness she harnessed. A black leather dress cascaded around her.

She looked around the apartment nose held high, like she was sniffing you out.

“I know you’re here, Y/N. Don’t act like I couldn’t hear you.”

You waited until she was further inside, and her back was turned to you, so that you could swiftly and carefully bend the glass from the mirror by your face. With a burst of energy, you threw them at her. However, she sensed it, and twisted her body just in time to dodge the shards, and reached out her hand to take control over them.

She still couldn’t see you, but she could perceive you. And with a look in your direction and a growl, she reversed the shards back towards you. You dashed away from them just before they embedded themselves into the wall, and you wasted no time in conjuring up a ball of purple mist and throwing it in her direction. It knocked her back against the kitchen counter, and broke a vase.

“Stop hiding you little shit!”

With an evil smirk, she opened the palms of her hands and out of the tips of her fingers came out dark black liquid smoke that slithered across the floor like snakes until it built up around you, filling your vision with nothing but darkness. 

You could feel it start to grip and pull onto your skin like tentacles, and it made it hard to breathe. Before it could gain more control of you, you broke through it with a burst of energy. But to your luck, it was just what Belladonna needed to pinpoint just where you were.

A white hand came through the remaining smoke and wrapped itself around your throat. Your invisibility spell wore off with her touch and as the smoke cleared away, her twisted grin came into view. 

“There you are.”

She lifted you off the ground so that the tip of your toes were barely touching the floor, and the grip of her fist was crushing your windpipe. You resisted and tried clawing at her wrist, but with a pulse of dark magic, she sent a current of electricity through you until you were limp.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Did you really think I’d never find you? That I wouldn’t finish what I started?” She squeezed harder and you gasped. “Let’s get this magic back to someone who actually knows how to use it.”

Having already thought of your next move, you returned her vicious smile.

“Like me, bitch?”

You released your hands from her wrist, her grip no longer suffocating you, as you were, to her obliviousness, now floating in mid air. And without a second thought, you kicked her in right in the torso and sent her flying into the kitchen.

She crashed against the cabinets and many of them opened with the force, causing plates and cups to come crashing down onto the floor. Still in the air, you surrounded yourself with glass shards, all pointing to her. 

You threw them, but just as they were about to land, she moved her hands in a circular motion, and the glass turned into crows. The black birds flew in your direction and you screamed as they attacked you with their claws and beaks, tearing at your skin in numerous places.

You lifted one arm up and used a shield spell from Strange’s spell book to protect you, and with the other hand, you twisted your fingers as you focused on the glass that the crows came from, and turned them into dust.

“I’ve gotta say, you’ve really grown since the last time I saw you. Learned a few things haven’t we?”

With heavy breaths you glared at her, and all of the glass started to crack.

“I give credit to my need to kill you.”

“Looks like we have that in common.”

She put her hands together and when she brought them apart, a thin crystal dagger appeared in between them. Knowing full well what it was, your heart dropped.

It was a weapon of darkness, the same weapon she had used to kill your family, the one that harnessed their power and gave it all to her. And she was going to use it on you to do the same thing.

She lifted it in one hand, “Except, I have the advantage here.”

That brought you back to your deep dark reality, and jump started your need to get out of there. You were strong, but in this small apartment, you were cornered, and you just didn’t know if you could hold her back long enough to not die. She was fueled by pure rage and power, and there was nothing that would stop her.

You eyed the full body mirror by the entrance. It was too far away, and even then, it was broken into pieces. The only mirrors that were still intact, were the ones in your room. You eyed the door, which was a few feet away. You just needed to push her back long enough.

With a wave of her hand, Belladonna brought down the bookshelves to crush you. You lifted up your hands to stop them, although a few books came raining down. She advanced with her smoke, so with all of your strength, you wrench the bookshelves around you and towards her to block her way. 

Some candles got knocked over, and Belladonna used her magic to make the flames grow and whip at you. The heat got close to your face, but with all of your might, you took your hands and took control of the fire. You could feel your energy draining, but you pushed forward with sheer will, and used another spell to create a wall between you and her with the flames.

It’s enough to buy time, but you knew it wouldn’t hold her back for long, so you bolted for the hallway. For good measure, you threw back some glass shards, and a dagger before you reached the door, wrenched it open, and slammed it shut behind you.

At your feet, Bagheera meowed ferociously, and you scooped him up. Not wasting another second, you went to the full length mirror by your closet, and opened a portal to the only other safe place you could think of. Just as Belladonna broke through the door with a screech, you jumped right through, and landed in the foyer of the New York Sanctum.

You collapsed to your knees on the carpeted floor and Bagheera jumped out of your arms. You leaned forward on your hands to take a breather, but your heart was still racing and your nerves were on edge. You stood up, too quickly, as it suddenly made you dizzy, but you steadied yourself to get a better look around. 

You searched for any sign of danger, fearful that Belladonna had somehow made it through. But she didn’t. Your portals were full proof and closed as soon as somebody went through them. There was no way she could know where you could be, not without looking.

The foyer was empty except for you now, but something in you urged you to look for Strange.

You rushed up the steps, calling his name. “Strange! Strange, where are you?”

You would’ve kept going had spots not started dancing in your field of vision, and a sharp pain hit you in the right side of your lower back. You hissed and put your hand where the pain had been. There was moisture, and then your fingers felt something sharp and hard sticking out of your skin. When you looked at your hand, it was covered in blood.

Frozen in place, you stared at it in shock.

Finally, Strange appeared out of nowhere on the landing ahead of you with another man you didn’t recognize.

“Y/N? Y/N what are you doing here?”

You looked at him but your vision started to get blurry and your lids grew heavy.

“Is that blood?”

“Strange…Strange I think I need help…”

Suddenly, as if the adrenaline your body had been running on had all gone away, dots spotted your vision once again and you buckled under yourself. You fell and rolled back down the stairs.

“Hey, hey, hey! Y/N!”

He rushed down the steps and kneeled down by your side. Your vision was still a blur but you could see his anxious expression as his eyes scanned over your face above you. One hand went under your head while the other went to your wound. When his fingers felt for the glass, you winced at the ache.

“Oh no,” he uttered and then called out to his friend. “Wong, she’s wounded. I need to get her to the hospital before she bleeds out.” 

You felt the motion of him taking you in his arms and lifting you. You groaned in discomfort, but then found yourself resting your head against his chest.

“Stay with me, Y/N. I’m gonna get you help.” He said in a soothing, gentle voice. 

Your consciousness was fading, but you fought to keep your eyes open. You needed him to know, you needed to warn him about her and how this happened. 

“Belladonna,” you rasped out.

“What?”

“Belladonna. She found me.”

Everything from thereon out was in pieces. Your consciousness went in and out, and all you could recall were voices and lights and pain.

You heard Strange shout, “Christine!”

A woman’s voice asking, “What happened?”

Followed by him explaining your situation.

You kept going in and out. First you were rolled on a gurney, then you were on a hard metal table with bright lights over you, then you were being fussed over by doctors. The last thing you remembered seeing was Strange’s face as they turned you on your side and he was watching from afar. Then, everything went black.

***

You didn’t know how much time had passed, but when you finally came to, your entire body ached with soreness. Some places more than others, particularly your lower back, but it was nothing compared to the pain from before. Although you did feel something tight and itchy around your abdomen. 

In fact, you noticed a few odd things about your surroundings. Like the strange bed you were in, the piece of plastic on your index finger, and the beeping of machinery. The memory of what had happened in your apartment came flooding back, and suddenly the lack of recognition and remembrance of where you were, jolted you fully awake.

You sat up with a gasp, only to be detained by wires, an IV, and the sharp pain in your lower back. It elicited a groan from you, and startled the other person you hadn’t realized was in the room with you.

“Hey, easy there. You’re gonna hurt yourself.”

You glanced up to find, with dismay, that it was Doctor Stephen Strange. He was at your bedside immediately, and put his hand on your shoulder to lower you back down against the pillow slowly. You complied with zero resistance as you stared at him in awe.

How long had he been there?

“Strange?” you shook your head in confusion. “What…what are you…?”

“You don’t remember?”

“I remember Belladonna, fighting her, then escaping to your sanctum, but then…”

He filled in the gaps for you. “You came to me and passed out with a piece of glass in your abdomen. It was in pretty deep and you were bleeding a lot so I had to get you here to save you in time. Luckily I know the doctors here well enough so they don’t ask too many questions.”

You nodded, remembering some flashes, the blood on your hand, the glass.

“She must have countered my attack just before I could get away. I can’t believe I didn’t feel it.”

“Shock and adrenaline. It does that to you.” he said. “But you’re all stitched up now, so you should be fine in a couple of days.”

You smiled softly at him, “Thank you, really.” 

Suddenly you were reminded of your cat, Bagheera. 

“Is my cat okay? I brought him with me, but-”

He chuckled, “Don’t worry, my friend Wong who also lives at the sanctum is taking good care of your cat. Although that’s probably the last job he ever thought he’d have.”

You relaxed a little then. You couldn’t have your cat thrown out just because they didn’t know if it was a stray or not, but luckily it seemed that Strange knew better.

“So, were you here this whole time?” you asked out of curiosity.

“I mean, yeah. I had to make sure you were okay and that nothing happened while you were unconscious.”

You smirked, feeling your sly side come through, “Were you worried about me, Doctor?”

“There she is.” He shook his head although his smile betrayed him. “What do you want me to say? That I wasn’t? Of course I was worried.”

You shrugged innocently, “I was just curious. Did you stitch me up yourself?”

“No, actually that was my friend, Christine. I haven’t exactly been able to operate since the accident.”

You remembered he mentioned something about an accident, long ago when you both first met. He said it was the reason he started practicing magic, but you still didn’t know why.

“What do you mean?” you asked out of curiosity.

He lifted his hands so you could see and turned them so the backs were facing you. And it was then that you saw the lines of scars going up and down his fingers, all the way to his wrists. You also noticed, just how much they shook, even when he wasn’t moving them.

This was the first time you had ever seen them up close. A lot of the time he had yellow gloves on, or he was never close enough for you to notice.

“Car accident. Pretty bad damage. Stainless steel pins through the bones. But no matter how many procedures or how hard I tried, nothing could stop the shaking.”

You looked him in the eyes now, his blue eyes piercing yours. He was being open with you for the first time ever and it was a pleasant surprise to say the least. Up until now, he asked all the questions and wanted to know all about you. 

“So you turned to…supernatural solutions?”

“Well, not on purpose. But yeah I went east when Western medicine failed me and I found someone who taught me everything I know,” he explained, “After that it was either go back to being a surgeon or save the world. It was a harder decision to make than you’d imagine.”

You snorted, “A know it all like you giving up everything he’s ever known? I can only imagine.”

He chuckled, “You always find the right words to say, Y/L/N.”

“Thank you.”

“But now you know my origin story, and I know yours. Except mine is arguably less tragic.”

You shrugged, “They’re tragic in different ways, I think.”

He inclined his head in agreement and there was a soft smile on his lips. 

“I made sure Christine kept your name out of the records, just in case Belladonna gets any ideas. So, you should be safe, for now.”

You raised your eyebrows at that. Considering how badly you had treated him the last time you talked, he was being awfully generous to you. It made you feel like shit for questioning his motives and telling him to leave the way you did. He was really, genuinely, just trying to help you.

“Thank you,” you repeated. With guilt and a need to apologize, you put your hand on his wrist, which surprised him. “I’m sorry. About last time, how I reacted and talked to you. You just wanted to help and I was a total bitch.”

He put his hand over yours, and the warmth was a feeling you appreciated.

“Listen, I don’t blame you for reacting the way you did. I should have respected your past a little more considering everything.”

“Still, the fact that you still helped me and did all this….I’d probably be dead if it wasn’t for you.”

“I wasn’t just going to leave you to bleed to death, Y/N.”

“I know, but…”

He squeezed your hand and stared down at you with those blue eyes. You locked eyes for a long moment, and you swore there was something magnetic there. You weren’t sure if it was literal magic, the haziness from having been stabbed, or something else entirely, but you had a hard time breathing.

A knock came at the door, and the both of you snapped out of it. You let go of each other’s hands and assumed a casual position.

At the door was a young brunette doctor in scrubs. 

“Is she awake?” she asked in a whisper, and then perked up at the sight of you. “Oh good! Hi!”

She introduced herself as Dr. Christine Palmer, who you now knew was Strange’s doctor friend who had taken a part in saving your life. She checked on you, changed your bandages, and gave you the rundown on everything. According to her, she recommended staying at the hospital for a few more nights, but with a look at Strange she had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case.

You thanked her profusely, and then she took Strange outside to go talk to him. 

Not that it was any of your business, but you wondered if they used to date, because they seemed really close in a way people that were “just friends” weren’t. Maybe they weren’t together anymore, but they seemed like they were a long time ago. Maybe it was your mind running wild or maybe it was your good intuition.

You laid there in your own silence, thinking of Belladonna, wondering how the hell she found you. It must have been one of the people Strange had talked to, because if he could get a theory out of clueless witnesses, then Belladonna could too. 

Curious to see if your energy was back, you lifted a hand and summoned purple mist. It was only enough to hold in the palm of your hand, but it was something. You were still drained from the fight and from this wound, so you’d need time to recover. You’d also need supplies for a healing spell. It worked wonders on small scratches, but it would at least help speed up the process of this bigger wound.

The door opened once again and you put your hand back down as Strange came back in. This time he stood a few feet from your bed and looked ready to give a speech.

“What is it?” you asked.

“I know Christine thinks that you should stay here for a few more nights, but considering the circumstances, it’s probably too dangerous for you to stay here for too long. So, I suggest that you come back with me to the sanctum.” You opened your mouth to answer, but he held up his hands and kept going. “And I know that you’re used to doing things on your own and that you might not want to do that, but considering the state of your apartment - which I’ve seen - I think it’s safe to say that you have nowhere else to go, and my door is always open-”

“Strange!” you yelled over him to get him to stop rambling.

“What?”

“You can stop trying to convince me. I’ll go.”

He looked taken aback. “Wait, really?”

“Yes,” you giggled, “Like you said, my apartment is a mess, plus the protection spell is gone, so what’s the point? I have nowhere else to go. Oh, also, you have my cat and I’m not going anywhere without my cat.”

“Oh, okay. It’s settled then,” he grinned.

“And when do you plan to have us leave?”

“Preferably? Right now.”

You widened your eyes at him. “Right now?”

“The sooner the better.”

He had Christine come back in to unhook you from everything, give you scrubs to wear, and even extra bandages for later. Meanwhile, Strange opened a portal back to the sanctum. When he was done, he and Dr. Palmer helped you out of the bed. You still had a hard time walking without feeling pain, so Strange put his arm around you to keep you upright.

You thanked Christine a million times.

“If you ever need a favor, don’t be afraid to give me a call. I owe you,” you told her and she smiled.

With a goodbye to his friend, Strange tightened his hold on you, and led you through the portal to the other side.


	4. Rigid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you get acquainted with your new home and Stephen helps you with your recovery.

When you stepped through the portal, you had expected to be transported to one of the familiar parts of the sanctum, like the foyer, or the room with all the books, but to your dismay, you were immediately taken to a new room you had never seen before. 

It was an average sized bedroom, with wooden floors, and windows framed in an intricate design where afternoon light filtered through. There was one bed in white placed against a wall, a quaint wooden desk in a corner, and an armoire in another. Across from the bed was a door that led to another room. However, the true beauty of it all, were the walls covered in blue tile patterned with white stars, making it look like the night sky leading up to the beamed ceiling.

You took it all in in silent intrigue as Strange led you to the bed and sat you down carefully. It was then that you noticed the minor details, the ones that looked familiar, like the square vintage gold framed mirror, the artwork from your room, the spell books that were salvaged from your shelves (including your grimoire) on the desk, a box of old memories, and even some crystals.

“Is that all my stuff?” you asked in awe. 

“Yeah, the few things I managed to save that weren’t burnt or broken. I figured you would’ve wanted some of them before completely abandoning ship.”

You looked up at him, in shock. There were so many emotions going through you, and among them was immense gratitude. You still weren’t used to having someone do things for you, and the fact that he had done so much already, without you even asking, made you wonder what you did to deserve it.

“You really didn’t have to do that,” you said softly. “Any of this. Thank you.”

“It’s the least I could do considering what you’ve been through. I said I wanted to help, Y/N, I wasn’t lying.”

“But why? Why are you helping me?”

“I’m the Master of the Mystic Arts, I protect this part of the world, it’s my job. You’re a witch that needs my help.”

It seemed like such a serious answer. You felt like he was spewing something out just to answer the question.

“And that’s all?” you pressed.

“What other reason could there be?”

You shrugged innocently, “Nothing, I was just curious.”

“Of course. There’s also some spare clothes in the closet,” he walked over to it and took out a folded up pair of red pajamas and then handed them to you, “I’m sure these will be more comfortable than the scrubs.”

You took them with a smile. “Thanks.”

“Do you need anything?”

Before it slipped your mind, you mentioned that you needed stuff for a healing spell.

“I need yarrow and calendula for a salve. It’ll help with the healing process. I don’t know if you guys carry that here, but it would help.”

He nodded in acknowledgment, “We don’t really do magic with herbs here, but I’ll see where I can get some.”

“Thank you,” you reiterated.

“For the meantime, you should get some rest. There’s also a bathroom through that door in case you need it, although I’d be careful since you can barely walk on your own.” He pointed to the door across from the bed and you nodded. Then after a brief pause, he furrowed his brows and pointed to the pajamas in your hands. “Do you…do you need help with…?”

You frowned at the way he trailed off, and closed his eyes in a manner that looked like he was internally berating himself. 

Without making eye contact he rambled on, while making his way to the door. “You know what? I’ll just leave you to it. Give me a call if you need anything. Okay? I’ll go see about your herbs.”

With that, he opened the door and disappeared behind it without another word. Meanwhile you stared at the now closed door, alone in the room, completely flabbergasted at his sudden change in demeanor. You slowly started to connect the dots and you couldn’t help but giggle.

_Did he almost ask if he could help me change? And then got flustered over it?_

_These scholarly men, they’re not all that put together. I knew it._

***

You managed to get into your pajamas easier than you thought. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience, but you got through it. It wasn’t like you hadn’t fought battles before or felt anything similar. You could manage.

Although you didn’t think you were that tired, upon seeing the very real, very comfortable bed, after being hours in a hospital, you wanted nothing more than to lay in it. And the second you got comfortable under the covers, your eyes got heavy and you fell asleep, counting the stars on the walls.

You awoke a few hours later, and based on the orange light coming from outside, you could tell it was dusk. And although Strange had recommended that you rest for as long as possible, you suddenly had the urge to shower. You felt dirty and grimy, and no doubt still had traces of dried blood. The thought of feeling the rush of hot water, and washing away last night’s remains, seemed like the best idea in the world.

If you made sure not to put too much weight on your injured side, you’d be fine, right?

So, you got up from the bed and limped to the bathroom. Your side ached but you made it slowly and with deep breaths. Once you were inside, you once again took in the rustic design. Everything was carved and built out of wood, except for the sink and the shower which were made out of stone (the toilet was just a regular toilet, of course). 

Standing in front of the mirror, you saw yourself for the first time since everything happened and you gasped.

“Jesus Christ.”

You didn’t look horrendous, but it was clear you had been through something. It made you wonder how Strange could even look at you and be flustered all. 

Your hair was more unkempt than usual, and despite the sleep you got, you looked mentally tired. Your skin was a tad paler, no doubt from the blood loss. There were small scratches and dried blood in different places from the crows and overall fight, on your cheek, your forehead, your arms and collarbone. You were sure if you looked, you’d find bruises on your body too.

You were often so good at your own recovery after getting into fights, that it was a bit of a shock to see yourself so raw. Although you shouldn’t have been surprised considering you almost lost your life.

You carefully stripped yourself of the red pajamas. Every movement made you wince (no wonder Christine had helped you and Strange thought to offer), but you managed to get down to your bandages. Those you were extra careful with unwinding and peeling off, until finally you were down to your stitches. 

You stepped back from the mirror and angled yourself until you could see them in the reflection. You bared your teeth in a wince at the sight. It reminded you of Frankenstein’s monster or Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. Albeit, it wasn’t a whole limb, but it was big enough to leave a significant scar.

Finally you opened the glass door to the shower and turned it on (after a bit of figuring out). You stepped in when it was to your liking. Once you were under the water, you breathed a sigh of relief and let the stream invigorate you. Instantly, you felt fresher, cleaner, and more awake. Like all the bad was going down the drain.

You leaned your left hand against the stone to take some weight off of your right side, and noticed a small screen embedded into the wall.

With a furrowed brow, you tapped on it and the screen lit up to reveal a plethora of music. You smiled brightly with glee. Strange must have liked music a lot to have that installed into the bathrooms of the sanctum. 

You scrolled through it all to take a gander at its contents. You were fascinated to see that there was a wide range of music in genres and decades, from classical to R&B, and 1930s to now.

So the Doctor had range. Impressive.

You started off with some 90s pop music and let it shuffle from there. Music played from the speakers and it was like you were back home, without a care. You washed your hair and your body as you sang the lyrics of a pop song and every song that came next, careful not to touch the stitches, and you swayed as much as your injured body let you. 

Of course, by the time you were done, your body reminded you that you were still healing and you couldn’t be doing this for very long. You had to resist the urge to run the wound under cold water to soothe it. Instead, once you were out of the shower, you had to sit down on the toilet for a few minutes with your towel wrapped around you to recuperate.

It was then that a knock came at the bathroom door, followed by Strange’s voice on the other side. “Hey, Ariana Grande, I’ve got those herbs you asked for.”

Your eyes widened, “You could hear that?”

“It’s not everyday we get a live concert in this place,” he replied. “If you’re decent, I should probably put new bandages on you before you bleed all over the place.”

You looked to make sure you weren’t bleeding through the towel. Luckily it was still white. Not for long, you were sure.

You dressed yourself as quickly as you possibly could and opened the door to let him inside. He was holding a big first aid kit in one hand and your herbs in a jar in another. However, what caught your eye was the fact that he was also wearing jeans and a t-shirt, something that wasn’t normal for Stephen Strange considering all he ever wore was that cape and blue attire. 

He didn’t look bad in it, in fact, he looked really good. It was a refreshing sight.

“Look at you in normal human clothing,” you teased.

“You know I was a surgeon before all of this, right? I’m not an alien from outer space.”

“Yeah, but I bet you wore scrubs all the time back then too.”

He scoffed dramatically, “Not all the time - Sit - You should’ve seen my closet.”

You sat down on the toilet facing away from him so that he could have easy access to your wound. He put the first aid kit on the sink and laid out everything he needed in a very clean and professional manner. 

“Were you into fashion?” you asked.

“I may have had a few suits. More than a few.”

You tried imagining him in a suit and desperately wished that you could see him in one in real life.

He took some antiseptic and you lifted your shirt up so he could clean it. It was then that he proceeded to fuss over you and get oddly protective.

“You know if you wanted to shower, you could’ve told me so I could help you.”

“Shower? Or get in?” you smirked to yourself.

“Get in, obviously.”

“I thought I could save you the trouble and do it myself. And I did.”

“You know you could’ve torn your stitches right?”

“I was careful, I promise. And I didn’t, did I?”

“Lucky for you, no. Even with your little dance party.”

You could help but be amused at his tone. “Are you this snippy with all your patients?”

“Only the ones who don’t take care of themselves.”

He conjured up a mortar and pestle for you, and you started grinding up the herbs into a paste like you had done many times before. He watched you carefully the whole time. When you were done you handed the mortar to him so he could get to work. 

He rubbed the mixture over your stitches, and you flinched at the sudden cold. 

“Ooh.”

“Keep still.”

You frowned at him, but willed yourself to relax and started murmuring the word, “percuro” to initiate the spell. Soon enough you got used to it. The coolness of the paste and the warmth of his touch made the stinging of the cut feel better. Not to mention, you could feel the effects of the spell start to work its magic.

He lost his snappy attitude and relaxed a little at this point.

“You have a nice singing voice by the way,” he complimented you out of the blue, and you were surprised.

It was a compliment you hadn’t heard in years. It made you nostalgic.

“Thanks. My mom and grandma used to say the same thing. Although I always thought they were obligated to be nice and say things like that, so I never knew if I should believe them or not.”

“Well, as an objective third party, I’m here to tell you they were right.”

You smiled, feeling warmth on your cheeks. “Thank you, really.”

You need to stop being so nice to me or I’m gonna fall in love with you.

“By the way,” you said, “I like your taste in music. You’ve got a pretty impressive playlist.”

He chuckled as he put the mortar down and grabbed some bandages and gauze.

“Why thank you. I pride myself in a lot of things, and one of them is not just my taste, but my knowledge in music. I used to play this game with the other doctors during surgeries where they’d play a song and I’d guess the name, the artist, and the year it came out,” he explained.

He grabbed a roll of gauze and started wrapping it around you to keep everything together. He stood a little straighter to do it, and now his face was hovering by your ear. You normally weren’t one to get flustered, but you could feel your heart start to race involuntarily.

“Oh, really?” you kept going, cooly.

“I know what you’re gonna say, “ he went on, “‘What a know it all’.”

You sputtered and defensively started saying, “No, of course not. I love a man who’s knowledgeable.”

“I thought you said all scholarly men are rigid.”

“I also recall saying that that didn’t mean I didn’t like scholarly men.”

He secured the gauze just as you peered up at him. You meant to fix him with another teasing smirk, but you found yourself breathless when you locked eyes with him once again. His blue eyes were so mesmerizing, you never realized until now that they were their own kind of magic. If you leaned an inch forward, his nose would graze yours, even further and your lips could touch. And you both stayed there, frozen, the tension building as you both debated on whether or not to do anything at this proximity.

You truly hadn’t expected to be in a place like this at all when you first met Stephen Strange. You hadn’t expected to feel so much, to go from being so angry to basically trusting him with your life like you had never trusted anyone before. And you certainly didn’t expect to be in a bathroom with him tending to you, being this close when it wasn’t just another ploy. 

“Y/N…” he uttered warningly.

“Stephen…”

“This isn’t another pheromone spell, is it?”

“I’m out of tricks at the moment.”

Maybe there was more to your flirtatious comments than you thought. Maybe you were willing to find out.

At that moment, you both leaned in, throwing caution and all sense to the wind. You closed your eyes, and your lips were so close to touching, when suddenly there came a loud knock all the way from the bedroom door.

“Stephen? Y/N? I brought a visitor. Also, food’s here.” It was Wong, the other sorcerer who lived in the sanctum.

You and Strange stopped where you were with a screeching halt. Strange squeezed his eyes shut and cursed under his breath. Meanwhile you deflated, left in a daze of wondering if what almost happened just happened or not. For once, you were the one left without anything to say.

“Yeah we’re in here!” Strange called to his friend.

Strange offered his hand and helped you from your seat. He retracted his hand quickly and opened the bathroom door all the way.

“I was just changing her bandages,” he said, before Wong could suspect anything else, even though he wasn’t lying.

A small black cat meandered over to the two of you. The sight of him lit up your face.

“Bagheera!” You would’ve bent down to pet him, but you were sure Strange would be worried about you and your stitches.

Just up ahead, Wong was standing by the door.

“I was going to bring him in earlier, but I figured you needed to rest. I’m Wong, by the way. I don’t think we’ve officially met.”

“No, we haven’t. Nice to meet you Wong, I’m Y/N.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Alive. Although my body is still recovering. Thank you for taking care of my cat. I hope it wasn’t a bother.”

“No, actually he’s a very good pet. Although he does like to wander.”

“Well, Bagheera’s a very intuitive cat. I think he can sense all the magical stuff you got in here. Plus he’s never been in such a huge space.”

Strange jumped to ask, “You said there was food?”

“Yes. Korean takeout just got here.”

Strange turned to you and gave you a small smile. “Well I hope you’re hungry.”

At that moment your stomach grumbled and your hand flew to it. You realized that you hadn’t eaten a full meal since everything happened.

“Starving, actually.”

***

To make things easier on you, Strange opened up a portal to the kitchen right then and there. It was like any regular kitchen with wooden cabinets, a breakfast bar, and granite countertops. Of course it was more rustic just like everything else in the sanctum. If you were honest you weren’t sure if you expected the sanctum to have a kitchen or any living areas, but they had to do something other than practice magic and saving the world, right?

The three of you sat at the countertop, eating soup, rice, and spicy noodles as Wong told you about how he met Strange and came to work alongside him. 

You noticed that Strange decided to sit on the other side of the island, instead of next to you. No doubt your moment back in the bathroom left him a little frazzled, and he wanted to regain that professionalism of his. But nothing could hide the glances he’d sneak over when Wong wasn’t looking, or the tension you could still feel between the both of you.

If his friend wasn’t in the room, you would’ve asked him about it. But instead, you allowed yourself to get wrapped up in the conversation, which eventually shifted to Belladonna. You told Wong about her, and then recanted everything that happened between the two of you back at the apartment. The dagger was the most important detail you focused on.

“So it’s a dagger that’s designed to kill magical beings and give the killer their power?” Strange asked.

“Yes, she’s used it before and she wants to use it on me.”

He crossed his arms and looked into the distance, deep in thought. After a moment he held up a finger and said, “Hold on just a second,” before disappearing into thin air.

You shot Wong a confused look. “Where the hell did he go?”

Before he could answer Strange reappeared once again, except this time he was behind you, and the sound of his voice made you jump.

“You see I knew I saw it somewhere.”

“Strange, what are you-?

He came up next to you and placed down an old book, written in a language you didn’t understand, but it was turned to a page with a drawing of a dagger you had seen before. It was Belladonna’s dagger. You ran your hands over the page in wonder.

“It’s called the Dagger of Moonlight or Dracula’s Blade.”

Perplexed, “Why?”

“It says here that it’s bound to the user by blood, and it drains people of their magic as it kills them. Sounds like a vampire to me.”

You nodded slowly, “Okay, and is there anything in here about destroying it?”

“Yeah, there are two ways. You shatter it with an intense amount of magic or you can deactivate it by killing the user with it.”

You thought about the prospect of killing Belladonna with her own dagger and it fueled you with a dark excitement. “Both options don’t seem that bad to me.”

“Maybe not, but if we don’t want this thing to get into the wrong hands again, we need to destroy it completely. And that requires a lot of magic.”

“I have a lot of magic,” you argued.

He hummed, “Yes, you do, but it won’t exactly be a walk in the park if you’re also trying to defend yourself from her especially if you’re still healing. Luckily, you won’t be alone this time.” 

“I won’t?” You asked it sarcastically and not obliviously.

“If we want to take her down, we need to hold her off long enough to get that dagger out of her hands and to you.”

You looked between the two of them. “I’m guessing this is where you two come in?”

They both nodded, Wong was particularly stoic.

“We’re no Masters of the Mystic Arts for nothing,” he murmured.

Strange grinned and pointedly looked at you. “You’ll get your chance, Y/N. You’ll get your shot to take her down, I promise.”

Maybe it was the look in his eyes or the fact that he hadn’t lied to you up until now, but you believed him, wholeheartedly. 

You had to admit to yourself that it felt good for someone to have your back. They were giving you your moment to take her down, but you didn’t have to do it alone at the risk of getting killed yourself.

You nodded, “Okay. Let’s take down this bitch.”

***

The day seemed to come and go with everything that happened. Just that morning you were in the hospital and now the sky outside gave way to night once again.

You spent a good amount of time conversing with Strange and Wong about the potential plan for dealing with Belladonna, and before you knew it, sleep called to you again. You had wanted a tour of the full place, but Strange insisted that you had already put too much strain on your wound. Even though you argued that you could feel that with the healing salve and spell were working, and it was easier to walk. 

Still, you let Strange accompany you to your room through another portal as he kept his arm around your shoulders. However, you were disappointed when he let go once you were at the door. 

As you opened the door, you debated on whether or not to ask him about what happened earlier in the bathroom, but then you wondered if it was a good idea. You had flirted with him before and it was all fun and games, but maybe you had crossed some sort of line this time. Maybe you were in over your head. Maybe the bastard regretted it and was choosing not to talk about it. Maybe this was nothing. Maybe-

Strange put his hand on your arm, “Y/N?”

“Yeah?” you moved to face him.

One look at you and his words were dead on his lips.

“I…I, uh…”

“Strange…are you oka-”

Your question was lost in the surprise of his hands finding the sides of your face, and his lips crashing into yours.

You were shocked at first, but your eyes fluttered shut and you started moving your lips against his. His facial hair tickled your face, but you didn’t mind, you didn’t have time to mind as you were too lost in the heat of the passionate kiss.

Just as you had your fist in the material of his shirt, and wanted to pull him into the bedroom, he disconnected. The two of you breathed heavily, and your lips were tingling in the aftermath. His own lips were red. 

Strange took back his hands from your face, took a deep breath and said, “Goodnight, Y/N.”

With that, he walked back down the hallway to god knows where, leaving you doe-eyed, slack jawed, and drunk on what just happened. On what really, truly, happened.

_Not so rigid after all._


	5. Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you confront Strange about the kiss, and you finally fight Belladonna together.

You awoke to the sound of Bagheera meowing, and him pawing at your arm. You sighed, knowing that he wasn’t going to stop until you were awake, and peeled your eyes open. His little face was above yours and you couldn’t help but smile sleepily, and pet his little head.

“You hungry, little guy?”

He purred in reply.

Before getting up, you turned to lay on your back to take a moment, and for a split second you had almost forgotten where you were. Those beams on the ceiling were not yours, that window did not lead to your balcony, and the stars on the walls were not put there by you. But they belonged to a place that was your safe haven, for now.

With a skeptical frown, you sat up, and noticed that any struggle or pain that you had yesterday was basically gone. There was only soreness, and a bit of itchiness from the stitches and bandages. It was no doubt the work of your healing spell. You’d need to have Strange double check it and give you the okay.

You looked on with a perplexed look at the thought of him. You couldn’t believe that he had kissed you last night, right outside that door. He had left so suddenly, you wondered if it had been a dream.

In reality, you didn’t really know what to make of it or how to feel. You liked it, that was for certain, and if this kiss stirred up anything, it was the fact that you liked him more than you thought you did. You just never liked anyone like this before, in fact you had never met someone like this. Like him. 

And up until now he had been so adamant about being professional and only helping you because it was his job. And you had been so stubborn about not needing him, and being able to do all of this alone. So what the hell was the truth?

_I have to stop overthinking this. Maybe it was just a kiss and that’s it._

_But if it was Strange that did it, maybe it wasn’t._

You got out from under the covers and meandered over to the bowls of food and water you had conjured up for your cat. The limp you had yesterday was basically gone too, which was a relief to say the least. You refilled Bagheera’s bowls, and now that you found yourself with your energy back, you decided to test out your magic.

With a deep breath, you focused on the mirror in your room and with ease, you cracked it, and released the glass shards. They revolved around you, the light from the window dancing on them, and you smiled. You put the shards back in its place to reform the mirror, and then lifted yourself off the ground with purple mist. You went as far as lifting the books and the crystals from your desk, just to prove to yourself that you could.

At this point you were giggling softly to yourself, and now that you were satisfied with having your full power back, you put everything down, including yourself. If Belladonna found you today, you’d be ready.

You didn’t know what time it was, but the sun was low on the horizon and the sky still had a tint of purple. It was early, and you desperately wished that there was a balcony or an outdoor area for you to take a breath of fresh air, but the sanctum seemed empty of those things. And going outside would no doubt be a danger to your survival.

So, with your newfound energy and power back, you decided to at least take a walk around the sanctum and see what there was to do. You didn’t know if anyone would be awake, but there was something freeing about roaming the place by yourself. 

You exited the room quietly, and walked barefoot through the halls with the bedrooms, wondering which one was Strange’s, and taking everything in. You were on the second floor, which is where the bedrooms were as well as the kitchen. There were other doors that lead to other mysterious places and you were tempted to look inside. There was a smaller sitting area than the one you had been in before, and more books lining those walls. You almost wanted to look through them, but you were stopped when a set of stairs going up caught your eye.

Too curious, you decided to follow them and go up. Right up ahead as you got to the top, was the giant circular window with a symbol on it. You regarded it thoughtfully, wondering what it meant, but instead of lingering on it you decided to keep exploring. And here, you found, was the floor with the tapestries, the glass cases with artifacts, and even the larger sitting room where Strange had interrogated you for the first time.

You were about to look through the cases and explore any other possible rooms, but something pulled you to the familiar sitting area with the books. You patted over there and saw with dismay, that Strange was sitting in one of the chairs, reading an ancient book.

Part of you wanted to speak up, to blurt something out, but there was something about seeing him so deep in his studies that made you want to keep quiet for just a little bit longer. So you leaned against the doorway, and watched him with a smirk. You wondered if you waited long enough, he would notice you. However, he seemed so immersed, you felt like he never would.

So after a long period of silence, you spoke up.

“So this is what you do with your free time, huh?”

His head snapped up at the sound of your voice, when his gaze found you his expression softened. He flipped the book closed and stood up from his seat.

“Y/N. Good Morning.”

“Good Morning.”

“How are you feeling?”

You started walking further into the room as you spoke. “Like my old self. I don’t have a limp and my magic is back in full force, which is great.”

“That’s good. I’ll have your stitches out later today.” 

“Okay,” you nodded, and stopped when you were just a few feet away from him.

There was a different kind of tension between the two of you. You had expected him to be a little awkward, but you didn’t expect yourself to be the same, to be so soft and at a loss for words. 

Your emotions built up as the silence dragged on, and right at the same time, the two of you spoke at the same time.

“Listen, I-”

“Strange-”

You shared a look and both laughed at that.

“You go first,” he said.

“No, by all means, Doctor, you have some explaining to do. After all you’re the one who disappeared so quickly last night.”

“Right, yeah, I know, I know,” he closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. “To be quite frank, I don’t know what came over me. I haven’t done something like that in a long time, but I….”

“But you did,” you finished for him.

“But I did,” he nodded.

“Why?”

“Why does anybody kiss anyone?”

“Attraction,” you said. “Are you saying you’re attracted to me, Doctor?”

He rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his lips. “I think at this point it’s pretty obvious. You’ve got a way of getting under my skin, Y/N. Like nobody I’ve ever met. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve put a spell on me.”

“For the record, I would never use a spell like that on anyone. No love is better than love based on a lie. Not that this is what that is….” you added the last statement quickly, so he wouldn’t take it out of context. It was too early to even think about love. Wasn’t it?

“Then what is this? Because I’m a little confused here.”

You scoffed, “You’re the one confused? You kissed me, Strange.”

“I know, I know, and maybe I shouldn’t have done that.”

You crossed your arms in annoyance. Was he suddenly being regretful? Even though he was the one who did it?

“So you’re saying it was a mistake?”

“No, no, no, actually I….I wouldn’t call it that.”

“What would you call it then?”

“I don’t know if you want to know what I would call it.”

“No, please, enlighten me, because I’m curious.”

“Y/N.”

“Strange.”

He sighed and looked down at his hands before admitting, “I’d call it, a night I don’t want to forget.”

Your eyes softened, and you felt like you could barely breathe. He looked up at you again, a little nervous, a little scared. If you were honest, so were you.

“What would you call it?” he asked you.

You took a deep breath and thought about your next words carefully. No matter how much this confused the both of you, you didn’t want to not say what was in your head, not when you had egged him on to admit his own truth. You weren’t that much of an asshole. 

You swore you could hear your grandmother’s voice, urging you on to say what you felt.

“I’d call it….something I want to happen again.”

You smiled and he smiled right back at you. He looked a little surprised, like he had expected you to feel the other way. For a moment there, you had also expected him to be full of regret, and you weren’t quite sure how you would’ve dealt with that. Not well, that was for sure.

But now….this…this was a…thing?

“We can make that happen,” he smiled slyly and took a step towards you. 

You dropped your jaw, smiling gleefully. “Someone’s learning to be flirty.”

You both closed the distance between you until there was only millimeters left. And you peered at him with a grin.

“Oh, trust me it’s always been there. I only pretend that I’m not.”

“That I can believe.”

You both smirked at each other, and lingered in that proximity for a while. You were going to kiss him, but then you hesitated.

“Are we sure we wanna do this? Whatever this is? When we’re about to fight a powerful being and potentially get killed?”

“One would argue that that’s even more of a reason to do it. But if you’re really freaking out we don’t have to do anything. We could just leave it as is and see how we feel after this is all over and we’re still alive.”

The more you thought about that option, the more the first half didn’t sit well with you. You didn’t know where this fear was coming from, but what you did know was that you didn’t want to leave this room unsatisfied.

“Or we could still kiss and do the latter.” you said after a long pause.

He nodded once, “Sounds good to me.”

With that, he leaned in and you met him halfway, and the two of you kissed, much less rushed and urgent, but with just as much, if not more, electricity. If your energy wasn’t high before, it was definitely past max capacity now. 

You pulled back and readjusted his shirt where you had messed it up a little. Your cheeks felt hot and now you were the one who was flustered, but you couldn’t let him know that, at least not more than he could tell.

So you smiled up at him and said, “I’m going to make breakfast. I’ll call you when it’s done.”

You made your way out of the sitting room and headed towards the stairs when he said, “You don’t have to do that.”

“I do. It’s one of my many thank-yous for everything you’ve done. Besides, when was the last time you had a real breakfast?”

“I can cook you know! I don’t do it often, but I can!” he called as you reached the staircase.

You laughed and started heading downstairs. “By the way, this place needs more plants.”

“If you’re offering to decorate, by all means, be my guest.”

“Don’t tempt me, Stephen!”

***

At breakfast, Strange relayed the full plan that he thought would be the best for fighting off Belladonna, which was basically, offering you up as bait. Of course, he explained it much nicer than that, and in a way that would get you on board. Which was that you would go to Central Park, seemingly on your own, using your magic as you normally would on a regular day, thus attracting Belladonna to you. 

She was already on the lookout for you, so it wouldn’t surprise you if it worked and she came out of the shadows when you were there. And it was definitely better than acting like sitting ducks and waiting for her to break down the sanctum door and destroy the place when you weren’t fully ready. It could’ve been any day now, after all.

But now, luckily, you were basically fully healed and you were more than ready to take the bitch down. So, in the time leading up to it, you practiced your magic and even meditated to boost your energy. Strange gave you a few pointers, but overall, he had faith in you to get the job done when it was time.

***

If you wanted Belladonna to suspect nothing of you, or at least not suspect that you weren’t working alone, you had to go to the park as if it were any other visit. So, you dressed as you always did, with style. 

You conjured up a short sleeve black lace a-line dress that flowed to your ankles, and some faux leather booties that you knew you could run in. Your hair, after going through hell, was sleek and soft in its best state. All of your rings were on your fingers, as well as your opal necklace.

Needless to say, you felt entirely like yourself. 

You made sure to enter using a mirror, and not one of Strange’s portals when teleporting yourself to the east side of Central Park. It had to seem like you and entirely you, up until you needed it not to be. 

Your heels clacked against the stone as you walked down one of the familiar paths you had traversed before. It felt good to be outside, to be in nature and take energy from it. You made sure to rustle the trees with magic as a message, in case she was near.

Eventually, to your right came up a set of steps leading down underneath the Bethesda Terrace, to an arched tunnel leading to a fountain. You had been to it plenty of times before. It was a well known tourist landmark. You hadn’t planned on going to it now, but something called you to it.

The bad feeling in your stomach, the one that resembled that night in your apartment, told you that it was far from normal. She was here and she was waiting for you.

You glanced up at the air above you. To someone else it looked like you were looking at the sky, or even the trees, but in reality you were looking at Strange. He was somewhere floating around you in the astral world, keeping an eye out for the right moment. You looked forward and nodded once, before descending the steps towards the tunnel.

The dark feeling grew stronger and stronger the closer you got, until you stopped right in the middle of the arched passageway. It was currently missing its usual abundance of people, rather, it was empty of civilians. However, you knew there was someone else here.

And just then, in one of the corners behind you, you heard, “Hello, Y/N.”

You sensed the burst of energy as it surely left her fingertips, and you turned around just in time to block it with a one armed shield spell. You called purple mist to your fingers as she emerged from the shadows in a signature black leather dress, and a wicked smirk.

“It’s good to see you again. I was starting to think you had run away, or that you died in a ditch somewhere.”

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” You sneered.

“Now what good would you being dead do me, huh? If I’m not there to see it myself?”

“Funny. I was thinking the same thing about you.” 

On the last word, you threw her against a pillar with a burst of magic. She grunted in pain and bared her teeth like a feral animal as she peeled herself off of it. 

In a second, she stomped her heel and the stone tore up in a path towards you. You put your hands in front of you and tried to stop it with your strength, but the force pushed you backwards to the floor.

“I think it’s very brave of you to come out into the fray, knowing that I’d find you, even though you lost last time.” 

You got back up, and noticed that some curious strangers were starting to notice your little quarrel. If you wanted nobody to get hurt, you were going to have to speed this plan up.

You shrugged. “Eh, I’d say it was pretty even.”

She put her hands together and then brought them a few inches apart, in between them, Dracula’s Blade appeared, just like before. This time, you weren’t afraid, in fact, you were pleased. This was what you wanted.

“You call this even?” She gloated.

You smirked, “Now I do.”

A circle with sparks materialized around her and she stopped dead in her tracks. You couldn’t help but grin like a cat at her shocked expression. The portal opened, and she dropped right through with a scream, just before she could say or do anything else.

Another portal appeared surrounding your feet, and you took a deep breath, before plunging through with a gasp, and stopping yourself halfway down with your magic.

You appeared in a large field, surrounded by trees, Sheep’s Meadow in the middle of Central Park. Strange and Wong were already there, and Belladonna was picking herself up from the grass. It was a good look for her.

You lowered yourself next to Stephen and said, “You still don’t know how to transport women, do you?”

He shrugged, “You know the drill. Our friend over here doesn’t get the same privilege.”

“That’s fair.”

Belladonna screamed in frustration as she whirled around on all of you. Strange and Wong did three moves with their hands and golden circles with symbols appeared on each fist, and they raised them like weapons. You had never seen anything like it.

Alongside them, you let purple energy float around your hands.

Belladonna’s eyes glowed as she roared, “Who are you? And how did I get here?”

Strange, without a beat, introduced himself calmly, “I’m Doctor Stephen Strange, and I protect this part of the realm from threats like you.”

Belladonna chuckled darkly. “Y/N’s got herself a few friends? Couldn’t handle this on her own, could she?” Her eyes flitted to you and then back to Stephen. “I’ve heard of you, Mr. Strange, but quite frankly, I don’t care who you are. I’m not here for you, I’m here for her.”

“You see that’s the problem, that’s precisely what makes you a threat. You’re in possession of a dark weapon, and I’m not going anywhere until I’ve dealt with you.”

“So be it,” she hissed, and with a fan-like motion, she let out a burst of energy, and knocked you all over.

With her next move, she lifted her arms up to the skies. Dark clouds were called overhead, with thunder and lightning rumbling and flashing within them. And in a matter of seconds, a cyclone formed and came down onto the ground, causing any civilians from all around to scream and run in terror.

You all got up from the grass, your own eyes were wide at the massiveness of the tornado, a sight you had never seen before. You put your hands up and tried containing it, and keeping it from moving. It was enough to keep it still, to not tear through the city, but not enough to make it go away or nearly pick you up from the ground with its vicious winds.

“Stephen, I can’t hold this forever! It’s going to tear everything apart!”

“Hold on!” he yelled over the roaring, and with a motion of his hands, he created a symbol in the air and directed its magic towards the cyclone. As soon as it touched it, the tornado dispersed, and the air started to calm.

You looked back at him, standing there all nonchalant, and he winked at you. Your jaw dropped at the simple yet audacious gesture and you had to look away from him to hide your flustered expression. 

“That was a fun little trick, I’ll bite,” Belladonna said, before smiling. “My turn.”

She took a deep breath and conjured up a wave of fire, the embers lighting her eyes in an orange glow. Strange and Wong readied themselves to combat it with magic, but you jumped right in front of them just as she whipped it in your direction, and raised your hands to stop the flames in midair. The heat from the flames warmed your skin, but it also coursed through your veins as you felt it with your power.

“Go!” you directed the men to move as you started using the fire against her, and threw pieces of it in bursts like fireballs. She dodged them, or used them to fire back at you or Strange and Wong.

When you saw that they finally encircled her, you dispersed the fire behind you, making it disappear into thin air. Belladonna, seeing that she was surrounded, looked angry. And out of the tips of her fingers, black smoke came out. However, not only did it make it hard to see, but the smoke itself took the shape of men with weapons.

You, Strange, and Wong fought these bodiless beings with all you had, but they kept reforming themselves, and you got frustrated. You could sense her getting closer. She was just using this as a means to get to you. As this all happened, you desperately wished you had your mirrors, but it was all up to nature at this point.

You had to dig deep within.

So, you flew up into the air, searching for her. And just as you did so, she came out of the smoke, and onto the side you were meant to be in. With that, you brought forth more storm clouds into the sky, and with your magic you called upon a bolt of lighting and hit her with it. She cried out, and spasmed with the shock. The smoke minions died, relieving the others, but it didn’t stop her from doing a counter attack. 

Using the sparks flying through her, she raised her hand towards you and sent a bolt in your direction.

You raised your hands to stop it, but Strange was in the air, next to you, within seconds and used his magic to save you from the bolt. You thanked him with your eyes. And right then, Wong came up behind her, and started fighting her with his disks. Belladonna conjured up another dagger in her left hand and fought him melee style, something she was also good at. Strange flew at her, and joined him in the fight.

Amidst the fighting, he divided himself into multiple versions of himself, confusing her completely. And no matter who she attacked, it was never the right one, so she focused on the one constant, which was Wong. he held his own pretty well, until she bested him and stabbed him, before knocking him backwards. 

“Wong!” you cried out!

Strange’s doubles kept going at her, so in response. she conjured up a murder of crows and let them all go in all directions, until they took them all out, and only the real Strange was left. 

You went back down on the ground, and pretended to dig into the earth with your hands, and turned your palms upwards. With that, roots came out of the ground, and wrapped themselves around the witch. She screamed and fought as they wrapped themselves around her arms, legs, and torso. The dagger was still clutched in her right hand.

It seemed easy and done with, like the dagger was yours for the taking. At least for the time being that she was stuck in there, it would give you the opportunity to destroy it. Strange took the dagger out of her immoble hand and handed it to you.

“Destroy it.”

You nodded once and held the blade in your hands. You took a deep breath, making sure to use the energy of the earth to fuel you. And then, with every cell in your body, you directed your power to your hands, and they started to glow. The wind picked up harshly in response. The blade became red with heat, and you swore you heard it start to crack.

“No!” Belladonna screamed. “No!”

The dagger cracked again. And you were so focused, so sure that this was it, that you didn’t notice she was already on her next move. For while you were pouring all of your magic into this, Strange started gasping for air.

You stopped what you were doing, the wind stilled and the dagger stopped glowing, and you turned to look at Stephen. Who was falling to his knees, with his hands grasping at his throat as he struggled for air.

Your eyes went wide and you literally dropped everything. You dropped the dagger and ran to his side.

“Stephen? Stephen, no!”

You tried using your magic to help him breathe, but it wouldn’t work. Knowing that this was her doing, you whirled around at her.

“Stop! Stop it! Let him go!”

Then the roots started to glow red, and you realized she was burning through them. With an aggressive push of her arms, she broke from your spell, making pieces of branches fly. You closed your eyes and shielded the both of you from the debris. And when you opened your eyes again, you only had a few seconds to react as the dagger came flying straight for you.

Beside you, Strange coughed as he regained his ability to breathe.

“I can kill you…or I can kill him,” she said, before redirecting the dagger and sending it flying to Stephen’s chest.

The blood in your veins turned ice cold, and your stomach dropped. “No!”

You reacted as quick as a whip, and raised your hand to stop the dagger in midair before it could kill him. Strange looked over at you in complete awe, and no doubt shocked at almost having died. He still looked weak, but wasn’t down on the ground anymore.

With an angry scream, you used your other hand to attack her with a burst of magic, but she did the same thing in defense, and your two beams of energy crashed into each other, fighting to go one way or the other. With this, the two of you were ultimately dividing yourselves to fight for power.

You bared your teeth and groaned at how much of yourself you were using to hold her back. You focused on the dagger and, and tried to use your magic to destroy it like before, but it was too much for you to handle like this. It only made her angrier and inch the blade further towards Stephen.

You locked eyes with him. “Stephen, go!”

He didn’t move an inch, instead he looked around pensively and his eyes landed somewhere beyond Belladonna. Somewhere you couldn’t see.

“Stephen!”

“Not yet!”

He stared Belladonna head on, his eyes an unfazed glare.

“Sacrificing yourself for your little girlfriend, are we?” she drawled.

“That’d leave you with a full course meal wouldn’t it? Kill me, get my powers, and then kill her right after. There’d be no point.”

“Clever man. No wonder you call yourself Doctor.”

“You’re strong, Belladonna, but you’re blinded by rage and greed. You’d be surprised how much of a difference that makes.”

“To you, perhaps.”

As you continued your hold on both ends, Strange now turned to you and shouted, “Two ways!”

You furrowed your brows in confusion. “What?”

“There’s two ways, Y/N!”

Two ways, two ways, two ways. The words repeated in your head until the memory jolted you. Back in the kitchen, when he had shown you the page with the dagger on it. It said there were two ways to destroy the dagger. One was to shatter it with magic, but the problem was getting it into your hands for enough time, which proved to be difficult. However, the second method only required a short, easy window.

Kill the user with the dagger itself.

And if Strange was bringing it up, that meant he had another plan. You tried the more civilized route, now it was your turn to finish what she started.

You pushed back with your magic as she inched closer to the both of you, and you nodded at him, showing him you understood. He lifted his hands, feigning surrender, but then he wiggled his fingers, the ones with the sling ring on them. It was another message to you, one that you understood completely. He wasn’t just feigning surrender, he was about to do something with his hands.

“If I were you, Primadonna Girl. I wouldn’t get too happy just yet.”

He made a circle with his hands, and a portal opened underneath him, and he disappeared right through it. Everything after that, happened in a blur.

He appeared right next to her, and with a whip made of sparks, he wrapped it around her wrist, stopping her grip on the dagger. On her other side, an injured Wong came out of another portal and did the same thing with her other hand, ultimately freeing you and allowing you to disperse her magic away. You breathed a second’s sigh of relief as the dagger flew to your hand.

And, just as you anticipated, a portal opened right next to you, and you flew right through it, until you were merely feet away from Belladonna. You raised the dagger in your hands, flew straight for her with a scream, and plunged the blade into her heart.

Your faces were inches from each other. Her feral expression was now yours, and her face went slack with fear, for the first time since knowing her.

“This is for my family,” you whispered, before releasing the hilt and letting her fall to the ground. 

The life left her eyes, and you thought that was it. But then you watched in horror as the blade glowed bright white, before she completely disintegrated into ash before your very eyes.

When she was gone, the blade continued to glow, but then that glow floated into the air into a ball of energy and you watched it in dismay. Then, suddenly, it went straight through you. For a minute you couldn’t breathe and you felt like your entire body was vibrating. You dropped to your knees and Strange was by your side, with his hand on your shoulder.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

You looked up at him. There were a few scratches on his face and he was dirty from the fire. No doubt you looked similar.

“What was that?” you asked.

“I have a feeling it has something to do with the power she stole from your family. Now that she’s dead and the blade is deactivated, nature’s correcting itself.”

You had the sudden urge to cry. After all this time of having so much stolen from you, it was back in its rightful place. With you.

You threw your arms around Stephen’s shoulders and hugged him tightly. He squeezed you gently, and ran his hand over the back of your hair. You let yourself cry, even with Wong right beside you. 

“It’s over,” Strange uttered.

Hearing those words was enough to lift all the weight off of your shoulders, everything that had piled on since Belladonna came and ruined your life. You didn’t have to fear for your life anymore. You didn’t have to run or hide. You didn’t have to fight, at least not in the near future. She was gone, you had done it, and you didn’t have to do it alone.

“It’s over,” you repeated.


	6. Stuck With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finale before the epilogue, where you're left thinking about the aftermath of defeating Belladonna and you and Strange revisit your feelings for each other.

When you were under the shower this time, you weren’t singing or dancing. You were silent and still beneath the water as it rained down on you, washing away what was left of Belladonna and the full on battle. Maybe it was because you were exhausted, or maybe it was because you were at a complete loss for words over what had just happened.

Belladonna, the woman who killed your family, who you had been running from for years, was dead. You had killed her with your bare hands, something you had envisioned doing for so long, but the fact that it actually finally happened left you awestruck. You were happy and relieved, but you were also unbearably sad.

Of course, the tears you shed were not for Belladonna, but for your mother and grandmother. Oddly, it felt like you were mourning them all over again. You had a feeling it had something to do with you regaining their power from the dagger, and maybe it was a placebo effect, but you could feel it within you, their spirit. Although they’d always be with you somehow, nothing could beat the heartache of never being able to see them again, for no amount of magic could bring them back.

You avenged them, at least, and that’s what mattered in the end. Even after Belladonna disappeared into ashes, you destroyed the dagger with your magic for good measure. Neither you nor Strange were willing to take the risk and let it fall into the wrong hands. If the two of you knew anything for certain, it’s that there were too many dark people seeking power in this universe.

You were just lucky you never descended down that route, and maybe you had him to thank for that. Even if it did annoy you to think about him being right. The thought of him in general, however, made your heart flutter, and you were filled with the urge to go look for him. After all, you were still alive, and this thing between you was still a thing, and if you were honest, you were relieved there was something good to look forward to after everything. Another human being that wanted to be yours, and vice versa. It’s something you hadn’t imagined for yourself in a long time.

You thought about how he risked his life for you, and saved you out there, while also giving you the space to fight on your own. At this point, it was impossible for you to not fall for him. He just kept making it harder and harder, and your own damn heart wanted more.

Once you were out of the shower, you conjured up an oversized sweater and a pair of pajama shorts. You had had quite enough of the clothes Strange had lent you, even if you were grateful for them. And you had to make sure it didn’t look like you had been crying, because you would rather not worry him.

The sanctum was so large and labyrinthine, you wondered if you’d ever figure out where he was. Luckily, you had a cat who had no doubt memorized the place by now, and cats were magical.

You found Bagheera walking just outside of your room and you peered down at him.

“Where’s Stephen, little beast?”

The cat meowed and then started walking up the hallway, and you followed him close behind. He led you to the kitchen, where Wong was sitting on a stool while Strange was patching him up with his kit, where Belladonna had stabbed him. You even noticed that he was using some leftover Calendula to put over the wound. Your influence. It made you smile.

You thanked Bagheera with a whisper and a pat on his little head. At the sound of your voice, Stephen lifted his hyper focused gaze from his work and looked over at you. He looked surprised, but not disappointed to see you.

“Y/N,” his voice went up a little bit. When you came into view, Wong smiled. “I thought you’d be resting right now. ”

“I know, I probably should, but I wanted to talk to you.”

“Well, you have perfect timing. If you help me with this healing spell, I can finish up here and then we can talk,” he motioned to the gash he had been stitching up on Wong’s side.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” you walked over to Strange’s side as he started putting the paste over the stitches just as he did to you yesterday. When he was done, he stepped out of the way to make room for you to let you do your work.

You put your hands over the wound so that they were merely hovering and closed your eyes while muttering, “percuro,” over and over. The magic from your fingertips and your words ignited the spell and set the paste to work. Within seconds, you knew you were done and straightened up to let Strange finish.

“Thank you,” he smiled, and bandaged Wong up.

With that, Wong left the two of you alone to go get the rest he needed. And as Stephen was putting away his medical supplies, you stopped him upon getting a closer inspection of his face. He may have survived without a stab to the side, or even the heart, but he did have a cut on his brow and his cheek, both which needed cleaning.

“What?” he asked when you put your hand over his and scanned your eyes over his face.

“It’s your turn. You’re bleeding.”

“No, Y/N, this is nothing.”

“Stephen, you’re bleeding, let me help you for a change.”

He sighed, but then slid the box to you.

“Sit,” you ordered, “Please.”

“Whatever you say, doctor.”

You rolled your eyes and grabbed some antiseptic to put on a cotton ball. He sat on the stool and lowered it enough to make it easier for you. He was such a tall man, so you were thankful for that. With the damp cotton ball you lightly grabbed his chin and started dabbing away at the blood on his face.

He was very still and very calm, to no surprise, although he did occasionally wince. For the most part, he just kept staring ahead while glancing in your direction most of the time.

“How are you feeling?” he asked you, and you wondered if he could tell you weren’t all okay.

“I feel….strange. No pun intended. Just, weird. Happy that it’s over, but I feel weird. I guess I didn’t expect to get this far so quickly.” 

You grabbed a new cotton ball with more antiseptic, discarding the old one on the counter, and cleaned the remainder of the blood that was left.

“I don’t blame you. It’s not everyday you defeat someone from your dark past. It’s not just another fight you get over.”

“Tell me about it.”

Done cleaning up the blood, you discarded the cotton ball and grabbed the mortar and pestle still containing crushed up Calendula. What he had was minor, but it didn’t hurt to use a healing spell on them, you did it all the time when you went on nightly excursions. It worked like a dream on the small stuff compared to the bigger wounds.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” He circled back to what you came for. Meanwhile you started rubbing some of the paste on his face.

You had almost forgotten that you had given him that excuse. “Oh, I guess I wanted to thank you for everything, especially when we were out there. You risked your life for me. I couldn’t have done it without you. Any of it.”

“I should be thanking you, you saved my life more than once out there. You were amazing, by the way. Belladonna didn’t have a chance.”

You smiled, feeling heat in your cheeks. “Thank you. You weren’t so bad yourself.”

“It’s what I do.”

You finished applying the paste, and whispered the spell just as you had done for Wong. And with that, you were basically done. There was no need for bandages.

“There,” you uttered, cleaning your hands with a wipe. “All done.”

“Thank you,” he said, but didn’t move from his seat. Instead, he kept regarding you with soft, blue eyes. You couldn’t resist the urge to furrow your brow and frown at him questioningly.

“What?”

“Is that all you came here for? To play doctor and thank me?”

You sputtered, having been caught and his lip curled up in amusement. “Were you expecting more?”

“I don’t know. From you? Perhaps.” 

“Okay, fine. Maybe I wanted to see you. Is that so bad?”

“No, not at all. I’m glad you found me. In fact, I was thinking of going to check on you.”

He opened up the palm of his hand on his leg, an invitation to you, and you intertwined your fingers with his, no hesitation. You thought about the conversation you had before all of this, in the upstairs sitting room when you kissed for the second time. Where you had said that you would figure this out when it was all over.

“So, you still feel the same?” you asked. “Being thrown into battle with me hasn’t changed your mind about this thing has it?”

He chuckled, “No, actually. I think I’m more sure of it now.”

Your eyes softened. “Me too.” 

“Really?” he sounded half surprised. “Miss Independent doesn’t feel like running?”

You snorted at his joke.

“No, I think….being out there with you, and the two of us almost dying...it puts things into perspective.”

And by perspective you meant that seeing Belladonna almost kill him before your very eyes, awoke something in you that you hadn’t felt before. All you knew was that you couldn’t bear the idea of him dying, of losing him.

“I like you a lot,” you admitted, “And that’s not easy for someone like me to come by.”

He inclined his head to the side in agreement. “Likewise. So, we’re stuck with each other, then?” he quirked up an eyebrow.

You smirked like a sly cat, “That we are.”

He shook his head at you, “Are you gonna make me regret this?”

“Of course. Keep in mind, you’re the one who found me, Stephen.”

“Oh, how could I forget?”

The two of you laughed as you leaned in to kiss him. And it was the one of the first of many kisses, and the first of many nights spent alongside Doctor Stephen Strange.


End file.
